SC Johnson & Son said it will lay off 40 Twin Cities employees as it folds its Minneapolis-based Caldrea Co. into its Racine, Wis.-based Home Cleaning business.

SC Johnson announced last week that it would eliminate between 300 and 400 jobs at its Racine operation as part of a broader restructuring effort.

In addition to Caldrea-branded household products, the Caldrea Co. manufactures the Mrs. Meyer’s Clean Day line of home cleaning supplies.

“These decisions are never easy, but integration with the SC Johnson Home Cleaning business is vital to the brands’ growth,” Caldrea’s general manager Maggie Carey said.

Monica Nassif founded Caldrea in Minneapolis in 1999, offering high-end aromatherapy, cleaning and gift products that scored legions of fans including Hollywood’s elite. In 2000, she launched Mrs. Meyer’s Clean Day, a more affordable brand with an emphasis on earth-friendly ingredients that made Oprah Winfrey’s list of favorite green products.

In 2008, SC Johnson, the Racine-based company behind Windex, Pledge, Scrubbing Bubbles and Glade acquired Caldrea and Mrs. Meyer’s Clean Day, but the two brands continued to operate out of Minneapolis.

Nick Woltman reports on breaking news and blogs about local history. Before joining the staff of the Pioneer Press in 2013, he worked for the Bismarck Tribune in North Dakota. He lives with his wife and two cats in the Macalester-Groveland neighborhood of St. Paul.

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